The community is invited to Saint Leo University’s interdisciplinary human trafficking seminar to be held Monday, January 29.
The event will be held at the Gwinnett Education Center, 3555 Koger Blvd., Suite 105, Duluth, GA 30096. Registration will be held 4:15 to 5 p.m., and the seminar will be 5 to 7:30 p.m. Hosting will be Dr. Felicia Wilson, associate professor of human services; Dr. Phillip Neely, department chair, undergraduate criminal justice; and Michelle Allen, undergraduate criminal justice instructor.
Saint Leo’s Morrow and Marietta educations centers will host the seminar via Video Teaching and Teleconferencing (VTT) so that guests and students may participate from those locations. The Morrow Education Center is at 1590 Adamson Parkway, Suite 120, Morrow, GA 30260, and the Marietta Education Center is at 1395 S. Marietta Parkway, Building 300, Suite 104, Marietta, GA 30067.
Presented by the Saint Leo University School of Education and Social Services, this is Part 2 of the university’s look at human trafficking. Serving the Survivors will discuss ways the community can aid victims of trafficking. Guest speakers include Jess Roth, case manager for Out of Darkness, and Loronda Giddens, victim advocate for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.
Human trafficking involves the commercial exchange and exploitation of people including forced prostitution and pornography, involuntary labor, servitude, and debt bondage. It is a crime that affects not only the victims, but also the community as a whole. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) released a study in May 2014, Human Trafficking in Georgia: A Survey of Law Enforcement.”
“The 206 participating agencies reported a total of 190 cases of human trafficking in which at least one victim was identified [oftentimes cases have more than one victim],” the report stated. “Of those 190 investigations, the majority involved the sexual exploitation of children, almost one-third involved adult sex trafficking, and only a few labor trafficking cases [involving both minor and adult victims] were documented.”
In November, Saint Leo University’s Marietta Education Center hosted the first part of the human trafficking series, which discussed current efforts to combat human trafficking, raise awareness of the crime, and advocate for victims.
Serving the Survivors, Saint Leo University’s human trafficking seminar, is a free event. Registration is requested. For information or to register, email Felicia.wilson@saintleo.edu or call (678) 737-2578.
About Saint Leo University
Saint Leo University (www.saintleo.edu) is a modern Catholic teaching university that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition and the timeless Benedictine wisdom that seeks balanced growth of mind, body, and spirit. The Saint Leo University of today is a private, nonprofit institution that creates hospitable learning communities wherever students want to be or need to be, whether that is a campus classroom, a web-based environment, an employer’s worksite, a military base, or an office park. Saint Leo welcomes people of all faiths and of no religious affiliation, and encourages learners of all generations. The university is committed to providing educational opportunities to the nation’s armed forces, veterans, and their families. Saint Leo is regionally accredited to award degrees ranging from the associate to the doctorate, and the faculty and staff guide all students to develop their capacities for critical thinking, moral reflection, and lifelong learning and leadership.
The university remains the faithful steward of the beautiful lakeside University Campus in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, where its founding monks created the first Catholic college in the state in 1889. Serving more than 13,000 students, Saint Leo has expanded to downtown Tampa, to other sites in Florida and beyond, and maintains a physical presence in seven states. The university provides highly respected online learning programs to students nationally and internationally. More than 90,000 alumni reside in all 50 states, in Washington, DC, in three U.S. territories, and in 76 countries.
